Thottappally Spillway is

Kuttanad Kuttanad is a river delta landscape region in the state of Kerala, India, known for its vast paddy fields and geographical peculiarities. It is in the Districts of Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta. The region has the lowest altitude in ...

's drain-way out to the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

. The spillway splits Thottappally Lake with the fresh water part to the east and saline Thottappally river mouth to the west merging with the Arabian Sea. The spillway was constructed to spill excess water coming over the Upper Kuttanad and Lower Kuttanad regions through

Manimala River Manimala River, or Manimalayar, is a 92 km long river which flows through South and Central Kerala. The river used to be wrongly considered as a tributary of Pamba River before satellite maps became popular, but this was proved incorrect. ...

, Achancovil River and

Pamba River The Pamba River (also called Pampa River) is the longest river in the Indian state of Kerala after Periyar (river), Periyar and Bharathappuzha, and the longest river in the erstwhile former princely state of Travancore. The Sabarimala Temple, d ...

. It was designed to spill off 19,500 cubic meters of water per second, but after its construction it was found that it can only spill 600 cubic meters of water per second. The reasons for this reduced flow rate are strong sea breezes during rainy seasons resulting in a rise in sea level relative to the water level of

, formation of sand bars on the western area of the spillway, and the width of the leading canal is too narrow to carry this much water to the spillway.Kuttanad 1992, Kerala Sasthrasahithya Parishat (publisher)

References

{{coord, 9.3174, 76.3864, type:landmark_region:IN, display=title Arabian Sea Spillways Buildings and structures in Kerala